Shilajit: A Look At This Amazing Ayurvedic Compound

Posted
on June 06, 2017

Where Do Shilajit's Benefits Come From?

Shilajit is a
sticky, tar-like substance often appearing dark brown in color, which is highly
regarded as a rejuvenating substance in Ayurveda. It is found primarily at high
altitudes in the Himalayan and Tibetan mountain ranges, but has also been found
in Russian and Chilean mountain ranges (Carrasco-Gallardo et al., 2012). During
warm summer months, the intense heat of the sun causes shilajit to become soft,
which makes it appear as if it is oozing out of rocks. However, the true origin
of shilajit remains somewhat of a mystery even after decades of research. The
primary theory is that shilajit is the humification product of various latex
producing plants, mosses, and liverworts. This theory would explain why shilajit
has such a complex chemical makeup that is similar to other humic substances
such as peat. Shilajit contains over 85 individual components consisting of a
mixture of minerals, humic acids, and amino acids that can potentially provide
benefits to your physical and cognitive function. In order to simplify things a
bit, we will only talk about the main components of shilajit which appear to
have the highest biological activity. These are dibenzo-α-pyrone
Chromaproteins (DBPs) and fulvic acids (FA) with DBP cores.

What is Fulvic Acid?

Fulvic acid (FA)
is one of the main components of shilajit. It is a humic acid created as a
result of millions of microbes breaking down decaying plant matter during a
process called humification. Fulvic acid is a very complex molecule and contains a
variety of functional groups, including carboxylic groups; this appears to
allow Fulvic Acid to easily complex with cationic substances (Schepetkin et al., 2009).
Fulvic Acid's complexing ability potentially explains quite a lot of shilajit's benefits. To begin with, fulvic acid demonstrates excellent bioavailability
and blood brain barrier (BBB) permeation; this allows it to act as a very
effective delivery mechanism for the compounds it complexes with (Mirza et al.,
2011). In the case of shilajit derived fulvic acid, it appears to complex readily with
DBPs, thus it acts as a delivery mechanism for them to various parts of the
body including the brain. Furthermore, the carboxylic groups in Fulvic Acid appear to
strongly modulate the complement immune system. This system is composed of
various precursor zymogens, which circulate throughout our body and are
completely inactive. However our innate and adaptive immune system can activate
these precursor zymogens. This leads to a couple of biological effects; the
most significant of which is inflammation. This process is called “complement
fixation” and the carboxylic groups in fulvic acids appear have the ability to modulate
this process, thereby preventing excessive complement fixation; which
ultimately controls levels of inflammation (Schepetkin et al., 2009). Fulvic Acid is
likely achieving this by modulating levels of a protein called hsCRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) (Kalidindi).
This protein is a key player in complement fixation and thus keeping its levels
in check could prevent excessive complement fixation. This effect would explain
why shilajit has traditionally been used to attenuate conditions such as arthritis,
asthma, eczema, and vascular disease; which can all be caused by excessive
complement fixation.

How does dibenzo-α-pyrone Chromaproteins Support Mitochondrial Function?

Besides being a natural anti-inflammatory, fulvic acid also provides significant antioxidant benefits.
However, the main antioxidant benefits in shilajit appears to be from DBPs. As
we’ve discussed earlier, fulvic acid readily complexes with DBP, and by doing
this transports it to various parts of the body including the brain. Most importantly, it seems to be able to get
DBPs to a location most antioxidants don’t seem the reach; mitochondria. This
is arguably the most important location in which you’d want to have a proper
antioxidant defense system set up, because the mitochondria produce most of
our cells energy currency called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). During
the process of producing ATP, significant amounts of reactive oxygen species
(ROS) are produced. These ROS can inflict serious oxidative damage on the
mitochondria when not properly dealt with by an antioxidant defense mechanism.
When this happens, we are basically cutting off the energy supply of our cells.
On top of this, the more active a cell is, the greater the chance for
mitochondrial dysfunction is, so this is bad news for high-energy demand neural
and muscle tissue. Luckily the DBPs found in shilajit appear to be strong
mitochondrial targeted antioxidants (Bhattacharayya et al., 2009). By
preserving mitochondrial function, these DBPs can ultimately even elevate ATP
levels in our cells! This effect appears to be so strong that in a study by Surapaneni
et al., (2012), rats with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) saw a complete
reversal of CFS symptoms when they were administered shilajit.

The study by Surapaneni
et al., (2012) also found that chronic fatigue syndrome induced anxiety and stress related
physiological changes normalized after shilajit supplementation. This means that
shilajit is not only a strong immune system modulator and mitochondria targeted antioxidant supplement, but it is also an adaptogen with anti-stress benefits! Its
adaptogenic effects appear to be mediated via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal
axis (HPA), whilst its anti-stress effects seem to be mediated via activation
of glycine and GABA
A receptors (Yin et al., 2011). What components
of shilajit produce these effects remains somewhat of a mystery, but it is
thought that these effects can also be attributed to its fulvic acid and DBPs
content.

Why Buy PrimaVie Purified Shilajit Capsules and Powder?

At
this point you’re probably getting pretty excited about shilajit! If you are,
then you’re in luck, because at Nootropics Depot we offer a highly purified
shilajit extract called
PrimaVie Purified Shilajit,
which standardizes for a high fulvic acid and DBPs content. The fact that this
extract is highly purified is crucial, because as mentioned earlier, fulvic
acids love to complex with cationic substances, and although this has some
benefits it also has a major drawback. Most toxic heavy metals are also
cationic, and thus it is not uncommon to see dangerously high levels of these
heavy metals in unpurified samples of shilajit. Primavie Shilajit, available from Nootropics Depot in both
capsule or powder form, guarantees
safe levels of heavy metals, so you can enjoy all of the benefits of shilajit
without worrying about the nasty long-term side effects of heavy metal poisoning.